🎙️Transcript: Live Better Sell Better with Kevin "KD" Dorsey
Live Better Sell Better Podcast
Kevin "KD" Dorsey, Ralph Barsi
May 2021
Kevin Dorsey (KD):
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Welcome to the Live Better Sell Better Podcast with your host, Kevin Dorsey of Inside Sales Excellence. The number one Patreon group and YouTube channel for tech sellers and tech sales leaders, where we dive in deep for tactical advice on how to book more meetings close, more deals faster, and lead sales teams to success.
But we don't stop there. We also focus on the person in salesperson. We talk about mindset, goals, time management, and so much more.
So thank you for listening and if you're interested, head on over to patreon.com/insidesalesexcellence.
Now with that, grab a notepad, get ready and let's dive into the good stuff.
What up everybody? Welcome to another episode of the Live Better Sell Better Podcast. This is your host, Kevin Dorsey, aka KD. And today we are talking about growth and building.
And honestly, this man needs no introduction, but for some of y'all, he might, because although he's not super active on LinkedIn, he was the OG in this thought leader game. He was the OG in the sales dev game. He was doing it before it was cool.
And honestly, as someone who I looked up to heavily early on in my career. And I view him as one of the founding fathers of scaling SDR orgs. Because not only has he had immense success at companies like Tray.io, ServiceNow, InsideView, but he understands the fundamentals of, in order to build an SDR org, it starts with building SDRs.
He gets growth both from an individual level and an organization level. And we are going to be diving into all of that today. Mr. Ralph Barsi, welcome to the show.
Ralph Barsi:
KD, what's up my man? Thank you so much for having me. What an introduction. It warms my heart. It's great to be here.
KD:
For those that don't see this on video though, I had to grit a little bit through it because my man decided to show up with a Giants hat on and just try to throw my whole vibe.
But I'm going to adapt here. I'm going to work my way through this and we'll go for it. But we're going to dive into it because that's why people do enjoy this show, is we don't do the fluff, we don't do the, "Oh, how'd you get into sales?" backstory.
We get right into the good stuff here.
And so let's talk about building a foundation for a great SDR org, right? What do you look for and how do you build out that strong foundation to grow upon?
Ralph:
Well, that's a great question to start off with. So I would just begin with the end in mind. I would fast-forward, let's say five years, let's say 10 years, whatever desired tenure you plan to have in the role.
What would you like it to look like when you sign off and move on to a new venture? What do you want everybody applauding and being excited about because you and your team built this?
I'd then reverse engineer and work your way backwards. So, in no particular order, KD, it includes scaling headcount. And in order to scale headcount, you've got to attract top talent versus pursue top talent.
So what do I mean by attract? Well, it could probably start with the job description. Is it well-written? Is it compelling? Is it a job and a company and a culture that would attract you and appeal to you as a candidate?
And then you work your way around, obviously hitting your numbers. You've got to hit the numbers. So how are you going to get leaders and teammates focused on which way north is?
It reminds me of a story when I went and saw Dr. Stephen Covey, God rest him, close to 20 years ago now.
I got to attend one of his conferences, and he gets up on the podium and he says, "I'd like everybody to take their left hand, cover their eyes, and you point to where north is and keep your eyes covered. And then I want you to keep that right hand up pointing north and drop the left hand from your eyes and look around."
And of course, all the fingers are pointing in every direction.
And he said, "Unfortunately, this is how a lot of businesses and teams are run today. Everyone is pretty certain they know which direction north is and they're typically wrong."
So it's the mission of the leader and the objective of the leader to constantly shine a light on where the north star is so that the team can fly in formation in that direction.
So that then whittles down to your daily activity and your focus on if we're going to reconcile our direction towards north, what does that mean for me in the next hour to five hours to day, et cetera?
And what activities do I need to focus on? That way you and the team start to micromanage the numbers versus one another. And it's a much, much easier effort when everybody is kind of rolling in the same direction and micromanaging the same things.
Think about as a leader, productivity of your team. In sales development, we're typically tracking the amount of pipeline per head that's produced, and you're going to want to measure an increase of course in that pipeline per head, per quarter so that you can report to the executive team, you could report to the board and shareholders, the productivity increases and improvements that you've made in your top of funnel function.
Lastly, it's just focusing on enablement and operations. You have to constantly train and hone the competencies and skills of your players.
And as leaders, we need to do what doesn't scale in fact. And that is get to know each and every individual as best you can, try to tap into what their purpose is and what their mission is, what's really pulling them towards their goals so that you can get them to work optimally and perform optimally.
And in the words of the late coach John Wooden from UCLA, if you focus on each individual player performing optimally, you no longer have to look at the scoreboard.
So those are some key components I would begin with if I were to really scale an organization to world-class levels.
KD:
I told y'all on the intro, he gets it. So we're going to break each one of these down a little bit further.
So let's talk about that true north. How do you communicate that out to the team in a way that it gets bought into and believed in, right?
Because there's oftentimes where it's not communicated like a true north, it's almost communicated like the 10 Commandments, right?
The VP just comes down from Mount Sinai with the tablets and says, "This is now what we're doing." And there's never that buy-in or belief. So how do you craft the story around that true north so it's something that the team feels some ownership in?
Ralph:
Great question. We can probably spend the rest of our conversation on this, so I'm going to do my best to keep this brief and concise and informative.
So first things first, really keep in mind as a leader that this, no matter what, is going to be a collective effort. It requires all hands on deck.
And when a North Star is identified, whether it's an ARR target, whether it's a pipeline target, you have to consider kind of where the company is in terms of its phase of growth or maturity cycle...where it is on the maturity cycle.
In my current company, for example, we are a mid to late stage startup company. We're in a much different chapter of growth than my team was at ServiceNow, for example. So right now, an ARR target to us is going to hopefully help us realize an exit strategy.
And when your SDR team or your sales team buys into working for this company, they're buying into the collective mission to achieve that exit strategy and serve more and more of the marketplace as time goes on and as the company evolves.
So if you can start there, tapping into, "Hey, KD, you joined us because you want to be on this mission with us, this is where we're headed. And as it comes down to our contribution towards that mission, this is what we're going to need from you. If you're rowing in that direction, when the whole boat's going in this direction, it's going to be an uphill climb for everyone. So let's create this win-win situation and get there together. Now let's talk about how your day breaks down, how your week breaks down," and it's much easier for any person to digest and accept when it's presented that way.
And then I would emphasize and reinforce what that mission is through things like weekly updates. Every Sunday, for example, in my world, I carve out two hours of my Sunday morning.
I'm not suggesting everybody do this, but this is what works for me. Over a hot cup of coffee, and it's all quiet in the house, I will craft a message to my directs and then I will send it to extended directs and leaders as a forward as an FYI.
That's really, really important for people to understand what's on your radar, what you see coming down the pike and what they need to be thinking about. And then it extends into all hands calls, which we hold monthly.
It extends to one-on-ones where we talk about what I mentioned earlier. This is where now I'm tapping into your purpose as to why you're even here so that I know what's going to trigger and motivate you to want to win, want to improve, et cetera.
So I'll pause there.
I mean, again, we can go for days on this stuff, but the communication piece alone is imperative. If you are not communicating consistently, clearly, and well, it's going to be a big struggle. And by communication, by the way, that's listening, that's note-taking, that's recapping, debriefing, pre-postmortem. It runs the gamut, but you must be a clear, crisp communicator at all times.
KD:
I mean, that's so important. It's actually one of the first early pieces of critical feedback I got on myself from one of my mentors, Dave Brock. The Dave Brock, author of Sales Manager Survival Guide.
Came in and talked with my management team. And I was like, talk to them. At the time, I think I had five or six managers, and I was like, I want all the dirt, no holds barred. Where do I need to improve as their leader?
And that was actually the number one piece that came out was like, "Hey, KD, we just want to know what's going on. Communicate with us. Let us know what you're thinking and where we're going and why. And just keep us involved in those steps."
And it was a big turning point for myself as a leader I think was understand how important that is. And so I'm glad you called that out, that communication of the vision.
I tell my managers now, I over communicate now, I fix that problem, but you have to be unrelentingly positive. You can't just talk about it once. It's unrelentingly positive. You have to keep bringing it up and keep bringing it up to go to go through it. And so now you mentioned it twice now.
So this is where we're going to go next about this kind individual purpose or motivation, right? This is kind of a two-part question that we could also probably spend an hour on is how do you help... We'll just narrow this down.
How do you help an individual maybe find that purpose? Because oftentimes for SDRs early in their careers, they don't have as strong of a true what is my purpose or my connection? So I guess how do you help the reps or the managers pull that information out?
Ralph:
It's not easy because it's going to come down to trust. It's going to come down to knowing that when they speak with me in a one-on-one for example, that it's just a conversation right now between you and me. But this is my approach as well.
I do everything with love. So I love the people on my team. I want to be seen as a servant leader to them. So what that means to me is I want to be able to identify along with them, but help them remove obstacles from the path that they are on.
So I talk with them about have they decided to be very successful in their career? Because until that decision is made and until that switch goes on, who knows what's going to happen? They're kind of just hoping it works out and they're waiting for inspiration and motivation from others when we all know that motivation mostly comes from within.
So I try to tap into what journey they've been on as much as they'll open up and share with me knowing that they can trust this information with me and that I'm going to be working in their best interest and on their behalf.
And I always have that beginner's mind in these conversations. I'm learning, I'm a student. I'm trying to figure these people out. These are people that are likely going to be leaders in their own right someday, and I want them to have the impression of when they were on Barsi's team and Barsi's organization, that's when they felt trusted, loyal, they learned a lot.
They wanted to put in the effort because they knew they were going to be taught. They knew they'd be loved, and they knew that they would get a shining example of how to pay it forward. I've been blessed to have great leaders in my career and in my personal life, both family and friends, mentors, et cetera.
And I want to honor them and I want to honor what I've learned from them.
I also understand in a leadership position that the SDR role, for example, is a transient one. It's very temporary. People are not going to be on my team forever.
So I understand and respect that they're going to be alums, alumni of my team at some point. And when they are, I want them to pay this stuff forward and go teach and make a positive impact on the lives of others. So with all that in mind, that's how I begin conversations and dialogue with folks just so I can get a really real understanding of where they're coming from and where they want to go.
KD:
And I love that because you use a word there that doesn't get said often in sales and leadership, which is love, right? To love your team.
In fact, more often than not, I sign off our team meetings with I love y'all, I miss y'all, let's go, right? And having that connection and just that mindset for your people, which also is harder, which is harder.
It's harder to care about your people than it is to not. It's harder to love your people than it is to not. It's easier to treat people like a number than it is to treat them like a person and try to help them grow.
And I think that's one of the many reasons why I have so much respect for you is you're one of the first people that I remember watching speak, talk that way, right? About their people, which then I actually think, I want to follow it up with the flip side of this because I think people get love, and I wish I had a better word here, but I'm going to go for love and soft confused, right? Where it's like, well, if you love your people, that means you're not also then tough on them.
How do you have some of those tough love conversations?
Ralph:
Well, we are here to work. This is business and we are here to move the needle. There are pipeline targets that must be met. There are ARR targets that must be met. There are a lot of stakeholders literally invested in our effort. And we don't want this thing to slip on our watch.
And so as much as I love them and love the craft and the profession and the opportunity, I feel obligated at the same time to now be a contributor, be a leader, lead from the front, lead by example, raise my standards, raise the standards of the team, adhere to standards of excellence and deliver results.
Again, they're going to be alumni of my team at some point, and I want them to go and lead. And leaders know how to get to work and get to business when needed. It doesn't mean there's any love lost, but we have things to do here. Let's rock and roll.
KD:
And I think that's so important. Funny enough, just a few weeks ago I was talking about that with my SDR managers. Like if you care about someone, that's exactly why you hold a high bar.
That's exactly why you talk about the tough things when you need to, right? If that's going to be our premise is that we care about our people, right? The person and salesperson, well, you wouldn't let a person you care about keep doing things that's detrimental to their success.
Ralph:
Correct. It reminds me of a favorite quote of mine from Steve Prefontaine that is, "To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift."
So if I have recognized or the team has recognized your unique strengths and gifts, and I've recognized that you're not applying those unique strengths and gifts, that's super frustrating. And it's actually annoying too because you're not living up to your potential and it's happening on my watch, and I'm not a fan of that at all.
And so that's how I can get very serious in talking with the team and with individuals is when I just don't see them giving it 100%. They're sacrificing the gift.
KD:
Yeah. No, it is. It's what truth would I lose more sleep over people's potential than I do ARR and pipeline, Bar none, right?
What we talk about a lot internally is the how, the how. How we work, how we approach our day, how we have conversations, right? Because if we're proud of how, the results should take care of themselves, and even if they don't, we can still be proud because of how we approached things and how we carried ourselves as an org.
And funny enough, I asked this question to my teams. I said, "Would you rather work for someone who has lower standards? Would you rather work for someone who doesn't care? Would you rather work for someone who would treat you like a number? Like that's part of what you're signing up for?"
Is like-
Ralph:
Because they're out there, you can work with them if you want. They're everywhere.
KD:
I can make intros if you want them, they're there. But it's this idea of taking some of that ownership is where I want to shift it next.
Let's talk to the individual SDR. Talk about the org a little bit, how can... As well as not even just as your sales reps in general, they take a little bit more of that ownership and control, right? How can they get a little bit more out of themselves day in and day out?
Ralph:
Well, they need to lead and take ownership of their business within the business. So when you're taking ownership of any effort, you're going to encounter problems.
And you can either take that problem and just bring it right to leadership for them to solve, or you can address the problem yourself.
And you could try to come up with two potential solutions to that problem before you escalate it. And I'll tell you right now, 9 times out of 10, if you're really concentrating on resolving the issue and solving the problem, you can do it.
You have the resources within you and around you that would astound you if you looked for them. And that's how leaders get into leadership positions. They get known for solving bigger and more complex, complicated problems over and over again by applying certain formulas or certain approaches to problems.
So I mean, I would really hone in and focus on that area alone. That's how you get started.
KD:
It's so true. It's like if you can, make problem solving a habit.
Ralph:
Yes.
KD:
And that's what you get... I love that you use the word. This is one of my favorite interview questions, by the way, is like, what are you known for? What are you known for? If I were to call your boss right now and say, "What is Barsi known for?"
I love that question because it's going to be a very short answer, right? It's not going to be, "Oh, well, he's just one of the hardest working, gentlest, kindest people I know."
It's going to be, "He's known for blank."
And I love that mindset to pass the SDRs is what are you known for? Because that carries, right? That carries through your org. That carries to other jobs, that carries to other career paths even of that knowledge and truly making sure that they think about that, right? Right.
Ralph:
Yeah. We all are. We are leading by example, whether we like it or not, people will never come up to us and tell us what they might be modeling from us or what they might be avoiding because they're seeing us illustrate it.
But we're always leading by example. So it's up to you to make that choice. How do I want... What's the example I want to lead by and what do I want to be known for?
And whether you like it or not as well, you're kind of leaving behind this trail of breadcrumbs of your little examples. And people will use, to your point, KD, one word to label you just like that.
We're all human. We have real hypersensitive BS meters, and you can't fool us. We know what's up. We know who you are.
KD:
Yeah. No, and it's crazy. And too, for anyone listening that wants to get into leadership, leadership, understand this magic two word phrase, back channel.
They're not just going to talk to the references you put on the pieces of paper. When you want to start becoming a manager, director, VP, CRO, the three happy people you have on your resume are not going to be who they call.
They're actually going to look for who you didn't list. When I'm looking at managers or directors and I have their references, I look for who should they have listed and they didn't? Why was their direct report not a reference or why was this person not a reference?
And do those back channeling type conversations to find out what that legacy they've left behind is.
Ralph:
100%.
KD:
And actually we can transfer into this hiring, right? Hiring SDRs. What do you look for in the SDRs that you're bringing into your work?
Ralph:
Number one, I look for a great attitude. You talked about positivity. So I want somebody who's going to step into a room and shed light. I don't want somebody stepping into a room to suck life out of it.
I don't like to surround myself in my personal life with Eeyores and rain clouds. I like people who bring light and are excited about life and have attitudes of gratitude. So I look for those characteristics first in SDR candidates.
I then move on to how well can they communicate. Again, do they have clear writing? Do they have clear talk tracks? Because to me that exudes clear thinking.
Third is, are they organized? They're going to be responsible for spinning a lot of plates in the SDR role. There's a lot that's going to be coming at them. And are they organized enough to look at their weeks and months and quarters and bite-sized chunks and getting after it accordingly?
Also, it's really important that they understand the marketplace. They understand the critical business issues and the problems that our offering is solving for others. The more acquainted they get with the problems we've solved for customers and late stage prospects, the better, more articulate and more of service there'll be to the marketplace. So that's super important.
And those are just what... That's a slew of so many different great characteristics to look for.
KD:
I mean, I think back to you, the opening question, I think those are the foundation. Without those is the foundation because if you take one of those away, the odds of success are significantly lower.
They can have everything, but if they're not organized, probably not going to succeed. They can have everything, but if they have a poor attitude, they're not going to succeed. And so I love those as the foundation to build upon.
And so now we talked hiring and earlier we talked about love and the dichotomy of love, right? Love, but you have to have that tough love sometimes too. Let's talk about growth and patience.
Because I think this is something in the SDR world especially, it's like it is transient, as you mentioned, right? They do move through it, but at the same time, there's this impatience to take that next step.
So let's talk about this. How do you balance the growth conversations with also the development and patience to conversations of like, "Hey, it takes time to become whatever is next."
Ralph:
Oh, boy, it's a regular discussion piece. So leaders have to set the expectations first of all as to how long an SDR should expect to be in a role.
At some companies it's six months. At others it's 24 months or even longer. But make that clear. Also have that well lit career path for them so they see the one path that they can follow post SDR or the multitude of paths.
It all depends on the company that you're with and how you roll with respect to the people pipeline. But you're not kidding. I think our school system has ingrained in people... Look, you're in fourth grade for one year, and then you're in fifth grade, and then you're in sixth grade and then you're in seventh grade.
And so when you become an SDR, you're like, "Look, I've been here a year. I kind of get what we're doing here. What's next? Let's go."
And what I've seen happen more often than not is because they're so hasty, those that have gotten promoted prematurely, they have missed out on so many fundamentals that you learn as an SDR to make you a successful account executive and leader. And because they've missed it, they're on performance plans 18 months into the AE role.
And what they do is they go from lily pad to lily pad, they just go from one company to the next. And I can point out countless examples where you could just see it on the LinkedIn profile in year and four months, year and seven months, they're off and run into another AE role.
And it's because they never mastered the craft to begin with. They did not play the long game, nor did they keep their world small. So play the long game, but know that, hey, I've got to get to lunch, or I've got to get to the end of this week.
And I've got to show that I've moved the needle, that I've made minor improvements. And I've got to document and chronicle those movements, good, bad, or otherwise, so that I can at least speak to them when I do become eligible for a next role.
KD:
Touch on that a little bit more. I think that's a great call out of building your brag book a little bit.
Ralph:
Yeah, it's really, really important that SDRs become documentarians. And what I mean by that is if you want to keep a running Google Doc or Evernote or Notes, whatever it is that works best for you, start chronicling the highlights that you are performing from or producing, as well as the low lights. But the caveat with the low lights is you've also got include how you improved them.
How you went from X to Y in a given timeframe. And that could be summarized in a hiring deck that you send to a hiring manager internally for the existing company that you're at.
If there's a subsequent role that appeals to you and you want to get on the radar of that hiring manager, make a PDF or a slide deck of three slides that talks about what your journey's been like so far, and mention the highlights and low lights because you've been paying attention.
Pipeline you've produced, logos that you sourced, someone you mentored on your team that was not doing well and is now doing great. All that stuff counts because it shows the holistic person that hiring manager wants on their team.
KD:
I love that. So I had an SDR recently that was promoted. He did something that quite literally no SDR on any of my teams had ever done before.
And I tell the story now every time. So he qualified for the AE boot camp, right? Remember what you're talking about? It's very clear how to earn it.
And then once you're in, they go into an AE boot camp, but then you got to pass out of the AE boot camp. So something we do a little bit differently, right? So a lot of companies, they qualify for the promotion.
You qualify for the promotion, but you still got to test out of the AE Bootcamp, right? I'm not just going to release you into the wild. You don't know how to close yet, SDRs, I'm just telling you.
You don't know how to close yet. There is a difference there. But in the process, when it came to this final interview, the morning of his final interview, myself and my director on the AE side got an email from him that had testimonial videos from two of the AEs that he supported, and the manager of the AEs that they supported.
Basically giving a testimonial for why they felt he was ready for the job and what it was like working with him. I messaged Jess, my director, I'm like, "Do we even have to interview him at this point?"
Ralph:
Yeah, all day, man.
KD:
I'll remember that forever. And no one asked him to do it. No one told him to do it. He just went and got other people to vouch for him. And I thought that was such a... I think my response back was just, that's a gangster move right there. That's just gangster. I love this.
Ralph:
Yeah, that's brilliant. That's a brilliant move. And also it comes down to fostering a culture of recognition and engagement through your communication and leading by example.
If you have account executives who are propping up your SDRs, they should be, first of all, reciprocating. But I mean, what a great reputation as an SDR to be known as someone who has thorough notes, who really hands the baton to the AE in the right way.
And AEs will take your ops all day long and your meetings all day long because they know you have thoroughly vetted them. And that's an incredible reputation because when you're an AE, your customers are going to have that reputation of you as well.
KD:
100%. There's that phrase, again, if you're listening, known for. That you're known for that. They know if they see an opp coming from Barsi, this is going to be a good one. When they see an email coming out, they know they can count on you.
So remember this, it's what you're known for, controls that day to day. So I got one last question here before we get into our final two, just around training and development and kind of how you work that into your orgs, right?
Because there's training provided by the company or the org, there's also taking some of that personal ownership around development. So how do you create that culture of learning development and training across your orgs?
Ralph:
Yeah. Well, it's really important to include somehow some way in your training and in your development, a self-assessment.
So it's really, really important that everyone, actually, looks at four questions about themselves and actually does their own due diligence and invests an hour or two on themselves.
Writing "What are my career aspirations new-term, mid-term, long-term and how do I even define those timeframes?"
Second is, "Is there one person in my career that I'm trying to emulate? Who would that be and why? Why do I want to emulate them?"
Third would be "What do I need to work on? What do I still need to learn? What are the areas of improvement that I need to be focused on in this amount of time?"
And then lastly, "How can others help me? Whether that's my teammates, whether it's my boss, whether it's my mentor, how can others help me get where I need to go?"
And again, there's going to be this assumption that you're going to go ahead and pay that forward when the opportunity presents itself. But I would highly recommend if your development program today and your training program today at work does not include some form of assessment, please include it. And I think you'd be amazed at some of the results you'll see.
KD:
Yeah. No, I really like that. It's funny when we align on these stuff, we talked about this two weeks ago in our SDR kickoff. I was like, "We need to realign on our goals."
First, I was like, "Hey, how's everyone's New Year's resolutions going? By the way? We're in May now."
Ralph:
Exactly.
KD:
Anyone? How are we doing-
Ralph:
That's right.
KD:
Oh, shoot. I did have those. I was like, I want to go through these again. You and I actually talked about this in 2020. Remember this? We did a New Year's in August, we reset.
We're like, okay, 2020 jacked everything up. That doesn't mean you just throw away all your goals. You make new goals to finish out the year. And we did a whole reset, all the goals. And I think that's something we're looking to do next week, is we need to write all that down again and pay attention to what are the goals.
But then the question everyone always seems to forget is who do I need to become to achieve these goals? Because you can write down six figures all you want.
You can write down manager, director, VP all you want, but if you never figure out who you need to be to accomplish those, doesn't matter.
Ralph:
Oh, amen. And also vocalize it. Share it with those you trust, but get it into the ether because you and I both know the universal conspire to help you out.
KD:
Truth, truth, that was one-
Ralph:
Ask you'll receive.
KD:
That was one of my affirmations for the longest time. The universe is conspiring for me. I can't wait to see what it does.
Ralph:
Another great one is from the poet Rumi, "Walk through life as if everything is rigged in your favor."
KD:
Right. Just believe it, right? That's where lucky people just tend to think they get lucky, because they spot it more. They just spot it more.
They're like, "I'm going to be lucky." Why not be a lucky person? So hell yeah, dude.
Well, dude, we've already been riffing for almost 45 minutes. I knew this was going to fly. So I got two final questions for you here.
The first one's just kind of a recap, right? It is like we've been talking about scaling and growth and culture and hiring, tough love and all that. If you wanted people to remember just three things from our conversation today, that you felt were the most impactful for them to remember about SDR teams or SDR individuals, what would those three things be?
Ralph:
Three things. Okay, here we go. This is tough because I got to be brief. One is, again, a quote from Brian Tracy, "Decide today to be a big success in everything you do." Number one, make that decision.
Number two, anything less than your best... To give anything less than your is to sacrifice the gift. So, "Hey, we need you. We need to see what your strengths and your gifts are, and you got to bring it. Bring it for us. That's how we're all going to become better is if we get the best of you. So don't hold back on that."
And then lastly, I would say develop and constantly hone your attitude of gratitude. Just the fact that both you and I are drinking fresh water throughout this entire dialogue, that alone is a gift. We're not ill...sick in bed trying to make it through today. We're here, we're talking to one another. We're trying to impart some wisdom and some nuggets for the audience. And that alone is a gift.
So just develop that attitude of gratitude. There's too much goodness going on. You just got to be looking for it.
KD:
I love that. We made a journal for our sales reps that has a gratitude section.
Ralph:
That's beautiful.
KD:
I'll shoot you the PDF afterwards. You can take a look at it. Because it's like you just said, daily habit of going through it.
And that's actually a perfect segue to the last question, right?
So the name of the podcast is Live Better Sell Better. I've got this crazy idea that if we took better care of ourselves, if we lived better, if we had more joy and energy and fulfillment in our lives, that sales would also improve from that, right? What would your live better advice be for people listening?
Ralph:
Stop focusing on yourself so much and focus on others.
There's a great Zen proverb where the student goes to the master and says, "Master, I'm discouraged. What should I do?" And the master says, "Encourage others."
So start facing outward. Start seeing who might need a helping hand, who might need a few minutes of your time. It makes such a big difference in the lives of others. So be that person.
And KD, I want to thank you for all that you do for our profession and all the sales and sales development folks out there, and leaders as well.
You've got a lot of eyes and ears paying attention to you, and I really appreciate the message that you're constantly putting out into the world. Thanks for being here, man.
KD:
Hell yeah, dude. Well, I appreciate you and I truly can say, I don't think I'd be here without you. I still remember the first time I watched you speak live. I think it was that Rainmaker. Gosh, this was... Oh.
Ralph:
I know. We're getting up there.
KD:
I'm talking like six, seven years ago. And the way you were talking about your team, because at that point, I was a manager still trying to become a director.
And watching you speak about how you built your teams and how you thought through that process, but that communication around love and not being afraid to communicate, that definitely stuck with me.
And I think it's helped me be the leader that I am today, my man. So I appreciate you today. I appreciate you for everything you've done for me and for this sales world. Where can people get more of you? Where can they get more insights of the man, the myth, the legend Barsi? Where can they consume it?
Ralph:
Thanks for that KD. The feeling's mutual. My blog is ralphbarsi.com. Go right ahead and subscribe. If you don't want to be spammed by me and you just want some good content when it's available, that's when you'll get it.
You could follow me on Twitter @rbarsi, and then you can connect with me with a message, though. Don't blindly send me an invite on LinkedIn at /ralphbarsi.
KD:
There we go, my man. Anyone listening, go follow this man. Consume, absorb, and most importantly, execute. Barsi, thank you so much, man. This was great.
Ralph:
Same. Thanks, KD.
KD:
Later, man.